Look at Your Life, Look at Your Choices
by peroxidepest17
Summary: No one really knows why they're friends.


**Title:** Look at Your Life, Look at Your Choices  
**Universe:** Teen Wolf  
**Theme/Topic: **N/A  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Character/Pairing/s:** Danny, Jackson  
**Spoilers/Warnings:** Through S2  
**Word Count:** 2,975  
**Summary:** No one really knows why they're friends.  
**Dedication:** juin, because clearly you should have my first TW fic.  
**A/N:** I don't even know, I just watched the entire first 2 seasons in 3 days and all I could think was HOW ARE THESE TWO FRIENDS EVEN.  
**Disclaimer:** No harm or infringement intended.

Jackson is Danny's best friend, but that doesn't mean Danny doesn't know that Jackson is a douchebag. In fact, Danny has seen Jackson go _out of his way _to be a bigger douchebag than he is naturally just because he has this unhealthy competitive streak that drives him to be the best at everything, even douchebaggery. The result is that everyone is either terrified of Jackson or hates him. Most people manage both.

Everyone likes Danny though, probably because he's the opposite of Jackson in almost every way. He's nice, respectful, and decent. Most of all, he doesn't flaunt his status as a first line player, a genius, or a confirmed hottie in anyone's faces. Really, the only thing off-putting about Danny at all is the fact that he's friends with Jackson.

Danny doesn't really try to explain himself on that front. It's no one's business but his and Jackson's, and to be perfectly honest, Jackson can't be bothered to care about it most of the time anyway.

* * *

One day after practice, Greenberg finds Danny packing up in the locker room. Greenberg has a bag of ice taped to his shoulder to deal with the monster bruise he got when Jackson had purposefully whacked him with his stick during scrimmage. He grimaces every time he moves and Danny looks at him sympathetically because he knows getting hit like that blows. Jackson is by the door reliving the glory of breaking Greenberg open with Finstock, and when Greenberg is sure Jackson can't hear him, he leans forward and wheezes, "How can you stand that dick?" at Danny before collapsing onto a nearby bench.

Danny doesn't answer; he just does what any good teammate would do and pulls out a tube of Icy Hot from his locker. He shakes it in Greenberg's general direction in offering, and Greenberg grunts his thanks before taking it. Danny finishes throwing his stuff in his bag and leaves.

He meets Jackson in the parking lot afterwards and Jackson drives him home, laughing about what losers the second string are the whole way.

They get to Danny's fifteen minutes later and Jackson spends the afternoon with him, making a racket rifling through Danny's kitchen. Danny knows Jackson's house is the opposite of this, that it's quiet and empty all the time because of whatever reasons Mr. and Mrs. Whittemore have for not being home before nine on week nights. Danny does his homework while Jackson makes a mess trying out (and hating) all the snacks Danny's mom bought from the Asian grocery last weekend.

"Everything is spicy," Jackson huffs, plopping onto the couch beside Danny with a coke and a grimace.

"I like spicy," Danny says without looking up from his laptop. "There's bologna in the fridge for sandwiches?"

Jackson turns on the TV instead, because rich people don't eat bologna. "Let's watch wrestling," he says. He never bothers to ask what Danny wants to watch, but luckily Danny likes wrestling enough that it doesn't matter.

* * *

Danny meets Jackson on their first day of pre-school, in the sandbox under the dome of the monkey bars. By the time Danny gets there all the other boys in their class are already gathered around Jackson, waiting for his permission to play with him. Jackson has the latest Harakiri Ninjutsu Warrior action set_._

Jackson slowly looks all of the other boys over, but stops at Danny. Eventually, he says, "You'll do," while thrusting his toys into Danny's arms. "Hold the target. I'm gonna use the throwing stars."

Danny simply blinks in confusion and says, "I want to play on the monkey bars."

Jackson laughs. Danny isn't sure what's so funny about that, but eventually decides he can hold the target for Jackson for a little while and then play on the monkey bars afterwards, especially since the other boys seem to be leaving now. Jackson will have no one to hold the target for him if Danny doesn't.

Danny gets hit in the face with three throwing stars that day. After the third, he picks it up and throws it right back.

He and Jackson just kind of keep each other after that, and sometimes Danny wonders if it's simply because everyone else is too afraid of getting hit in the face with a shuriken to take Jackson on.

* * *

"Of course you got dumped," Jackson grunts automatically, after Danny tells him about his first breakup.

Danny takes a moment to stop staring forlornly at his ceiling to stare at Jackson instead. "What?"

Jackson grins and gestures to the air between them, though he mostly just waves towards himself. "You constantly hang out with a guy ten times hotter than your boyfriend. People develop complexes about that, you know. He probably thought you were cheating on him. With me. And he knew he didn't have a chance."

Danny throws a pillow at his head. "But you're not my type."

Jackson catches the pillow and flings it back at him. "Which is obviously why you're heartbroken all the time. Your taste in guys sucks."

Objectively speaking, he might have a point.

* * *

"I didn't know what to get," Ramirez admits one lazy Friday night in the post-season of their freshmen year, when he gets back from the video rental run Jackson had sent him on. Ramirez holds up two DVD cases to the group of boys currently congregated in Jackson's too-big living room. "I mean, I figured we couldn't go wrong with action, but then I wasn't sure if Danny would be into it, so I got _The Notebook _too." He waits for a verdict.

Danny suddenly feels everyone's eyes on him, the room falling into an uncomfortable silence that only exists on TV and in murder movies, right before someone is going to get their face bitten off. The other guys are shuffling awkwardly and clearly waiting for Danny's answer. It's like they're too scared to say they want to watch a mindlessly bloody action movie instead of _The Notebook _because now, dissing _The Notebook_ might be legitimately homophobic or something.

Danny wants to say it's fine to watch whatever, but he's too busy being mortified over the fact that the only choice Ramirez deemed suitable for his gay teammate had been a chickflick. Christ.

Jackson casually breaks the infinitely uncomfortable quiet by pitching a Corn Nut at Ramirez's head.

"Seriously?" he demands, sounding inexplicably pissed about _The Notebook _while he looks at Ramirez like he's the special kind of dumb that only hangs out with McCall. "Just because Danny's gay doesn't mean he suddenly sprouted a magical vagina between his legs, dumbass."

Ramirez quickly tosses _The_ _Notebook _onto the couch like it's a dirty thing. "Right. Sorry, I…"

Jackson throws another Corn Nut at his head so he'll stop talking. "Just put the stupid movie in," he orders. No one else says anything about _The Notebook_ for the rest of the night.

* * *

When Danny comes out to Jackson it's the summer after seventh grade and Jackson has just convinced him to hack some sleazy adult website on his dad's computer for free porn. "So what? Blondes, brunettes, red heads? How about Asians?" Jackson asks, all twitchy with anticipation at the thought of naked boobs.

At first Danny doesn't know how to answer the question, but one look at Jackson growing impatient for his input has him blurting out, "I like guys."

He's horrified by his apparent case of diarrhea of the mouth immediately thereafter, but tells himself it's better to get it out of the way now, because Jackson will probably notice if they're watching porn and Danny is only staring at the dudes. And by then it will be really awkward (or however _more _awkward watching porn with your best guy friend can get). At least if he does it like this, he can dodge any punches coming his way.

But no punches are thrown. Instead, Jackson just blinks. "Okay," he says, brow furrowing like he expected this sort of stupidity from everyone else, but not Danny. "I wasn't asking _for you_."

Danny inexplicably bursts out laughing at that, somewhat hysterically, which only makes Jackson look at him like he's crazy. Danny's so busy being incredulous he doesn't realize how relieved he feels underneath it all until a little while later.

In the meantime, Jackson scowls and gestures impatiently at the computer screen. "That still doesn't answer my question, assface."

* * *

When Danny comes out to his parents, his mother cries and his father kicks him out of the house. He's fourteen and the world sucks and eventually, when he's too cold to be proud and angry and alone anymore, he knocks on Jackson's door. Jackson eyes him in all his miserable, shivering glory, and clearly decides this pathetic behavior is unacceptable for a guy who gets to call the awesomeness that is Jackson his best friend.

"You look like crap," Jackson says, and moves out of the doorway to let Danny in. Then he picks up his phone and calls for pizza delivery because his parents aren't home again. Danny gratefully huddles on the couch while they wait for dinner to arrive.

Danny's parents' divorce later that year and Danny's dad moves back to Hawaii just before Christmas. Everyone knows why it happened but tries to be nice by not saying anything to Danny's face.

Except for Jackson. Jackson has an innate inability to treat Danny like he's different, even though they're miles apart in every conceivable category.

"Dude, your dad is a dick for leaving because you're gay," Jackson says offhandedly, on the day Danny and his mom move out of their old house. "It's not like you were going to molest him in his sleep or anything." Pause. Frown. "Were you?"

Danny makes a face that clearly communicates the incredible wrongness of that statement.

Jackson hastily adds, "Maybe he'll send you guilt presents."

Coming from Jackson, the words almost seem sympathetic.

* * *

Danny feels like crap when his boyfriend cheats on him and then dumps him, which is a natural part of being a teenager, gay or straight. He gets over it, moves on. He thinks he's into Matt after that, but then Matt dies and the newspapers talk about how he'd been a serial killer who committed suicide before he could be caught. So basically, Matt had been psycho. And Danny had really liked him too.

It's like Danny's bad luck with men is making him the star of a melodramatic Oscar-bait gay movie that always ends in tragedy and death. It's disconcerting.

Maybe he should bite the bullet and tell Stiles he's attractive. Stiles seems pretty solid as far as decency goes.

Before he can really consider that option, Jackson's face appears in front of his. "Your taste in men _really_ sucks," Jackson blurts blithely, holding up the newspaper article that details all of Matt's nefarious dealings. Danny suspects Jackson only has the paper at all because it comes with the special insert congratulating the team on making it to state. Danny notes that at the very least, in this moment, Jackson is looking and sounding more like himself than he has in months. He even seems kind of smug about life again, which is one constant in Danny's life he hadn't known he was going to miss until it was gone.

Danny sighs and fights the urge to punch Jackson, because today it's not worth it. Today is a day where he lets his testosterone reserves dip low so he can mope properly about his doomed love life. "I'm aware my taste in men sucks," he says eventually, easily, as Jackson settles in to eat beside him.

Jackson's grin broadens and suddenly he's right there, leaning in closer. "There is an easy way to fix all this, you know," he says, voice low and sultry.

Danny arches a skeptical eyebrow at him because while that stupid, unnaturally husky voice might work on Lydia, it's only ever made him wonder if Jackson has a concussion. "How?" he asks, skeptical.

Jackson brushes imaginary dirt from his sleeve, preening. "You make _me _your type from now on."

Danny feels his lips quirk upwards even as he pushes a laughing Jackson out of his personal space. That idea is even more insane than telling Stiles he's attractive.

It's also exactly the sort of ridiculous thing he needs to hear right now.

Because as much as his ex sucked, and as much as Matt apparently sucked (which is a lot), Danny can think of few fates worse in life than being attracted to Jackson Whittemore.

Instead of feeling sorry for himself after that, Danny takes a moment to feel bad for Lydia instead.

* * *

After the championship, Danny doesn't feel like a winner because Jackson _died_ on that field. He goes home in a daze and sits in his room, mind racing, trying to figure out why Jackson had been talking like a crazy person before the game. He wonders if it had all been some sort of cry for help that he'd failed to recognize because he's a horrible friend.

He doesn't cry because he's in too much shock to muster up emotions in the face of how insane the night had been. He thinks there must be some people somewhere in town celebrating the fact that Jackson is gone, because Jackson, up until the end, had still been kind of an asshole.

Danny isn't sure what he's going to do now.

* * *

Jackson knocks on his door two days later. "Hey," he says, looking better than he ever has. And _alive_.

Danny gapes and then slams the door in his face because if his life is suddenly turning into a zombie movie, he knows stupid teenagers die in them all the time by reacting to things too slowly.

Afterwards, once Jackson has pounded on the door and called him all sorts of horrible names that all mean he can only still be _Jackson_, Danny opens the door again and pulls his friend into a hug. Then he grabs Jackson's shoulders and shakes him a little as he demands an explanation.

Jackson isn't too clear on the details, but apparently Dr. Deaton (why the hell is a veterinarian doing a doctor's job?) had told the police that Jackson was never dead, he'd just been doused with Dymethyltryptamine, which creates a death-like state. Luckily the effects wear off quickly. Jackson says that must have been what happened, in this shifty way that means it's not _all _that happened, but Danny is too happy to have his friend back to care about details.

Jackson talks about how his dad wants to sue the opposing team and the school for letting shenanigans like that happen at an officially sanctioned event, and apparently Sherriff Stilinski is all for it because Stiles got the crap beat out of him by the other team's players that night too. Jackson, in a strangely magnanimous mood, had apparently called his dad off, and for once, he and Stiles seem to be in agreement that the whole thing was an incident better left never spoken of again.

Danny wonders if a near-death experience is giving Jackson a new lease on life.

But then Jackson ruins that theory by swatting Danny's hands off of his shoulders before demanding food that doesn't involve bologna and an update about all the awesome things people are saying about him after the championships and his fake death.

Danny tells him to take off his shoes when he's inside and everything is pretty much back to normal after that. Between the two of them, at least.

* * *

"I seriously wonder why you're friends with him sometimes," Scott complains during off-season conditioning, when Jackson takes what should be a friendly game of Ultimate Frisbee and uses it as an excuse to slam Isaac into Stiles with whatever new superpowers he seems to have picked up after his fake-dying incident.

Danny takes a moment to enjoy the sight of Isaac scrambling on the ground because it makes his t-shirt ride up in just the right way. Danny also doesn't answer Scott's question because he knows it had been (mostly) rhetorical.

Back by mid-field, Jackson takes advantage of the situation with Isaac and Stiles by heaving the Frisbee at Danny. Danny dutifully follows its trajectory and crosses into the endzone to catch it while Scott is too busy worrying about his friends to play defense properly.

"That's right, Jackson! Take no prisoners!" Finstock shouts, like they're playing for a trophy all over again and not just trying to keep in shape during the off-season.

Jackson jogs up to high-five Danny because they're winning and that's his favorite thing in the world.

"Stiles and Isaac are on our team, remember?" Danny tells Jackson. Also, Stiles is technically still the MVP of the championship. They should probably keep from breaking him.

Jackson snorts like Danny just made a particularly hilarious joke. "How else was I supposed to get McCall off of you?" he asks, like concussing people on _your own team_ is a completely sane strategy as long as it leads to victory. "Besides," Jackson adds, "I saw you eye-groping Lahey's ass. Enjoy the spoils and stop bitching at me." He's right, of course, and he knows it. Jackson's second favorite thing in the world is being right.

"You're a douchebag," Danny says, without malice.

Jackson grins and nods towards Isaac. "And you _still_ have crap taste in men." There might be some malice involved there, but not any more than is usual for Jackson.

Danny sighs and goes to see if Stiles and Isaac are okay while Jackson waits unrepentantly by the endzone for the next possession.

Danny is probably the only person in Beacon Hills who understands why he's friends with Jackson.

It's because Jackson is _right_. He has horrible taste in men.

All of them.

**END**


End file.
